Categories:
General Market Commentary
/
Precious Metals
Topics:
General Market Commentary
/
General Precious Metals
Gold set for best month in 4 years as central banks unleash stimulus
Gold rose on Thursday en route to its best month in four years as expectations of more monetary easing from central banks and persistent worries over a global recession lifted safe-haven demand.
Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,713.75 per ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 1.1% to $1,732.10 per ounce.
“The massive monetary support we are witnessing at the movement is helping gold. Despite higher risk appetite, the gold price until now stayed above $1,700 per ounce, although it did come under pressure because of higher equity markets,” Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg said. “The U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and it should stay there for sometime. Going forward, the unprecedented monetary stimulus provided by the European Central Bank and the Fed is likely to increase demand for gold.”
After unveiling a raft of stimulus measures over the last six weeks, including plans to buy 1.1 trillion euros worth of debt this year, the ECB left interest rates unchanged on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Fed kept interest rates near zero and promised to expand emergency programmes as needed to help the battered economy.
The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter at its sharpest pace since the Great Recession, while economists expect an even sharper contraction in the second quarter.